Just to avoid confusion
dv8_fx; if you want to have raid-0 or raid-1 on a drive you will need two identical drives. So in your configuration you wouldn?t need 3 but 5 drives.
The advantage of the Raid-1 solution (mirroring) is that all data from drive X will be mirrored onto drive Y. Understand that if you delete data by accident from drive X using raid-1, that the same data will also be deleted from drive Y.
You can avoid this by using a program like Second Copy
http://www.centered.com/ or many other programs that do the same.
Second Copy allows you to copy deleted files to a directory of your choice using a scheduled job. You could for example use this program to make archived copies on drive X of your mirrored drive, but you could also consider not using Raid at all and save the backup and archived copies on Y.
Do understand that any write on a Raid-1 is slower than writing to a single drive, since in a Raid-1 configuration both drives have to be written to. Reading from Raid-1 drives however is faster than reading from a single drive, assuming that we?re talking about the same models.
Let?s go through a few things;
CPU
AMD processors have always been the right choice for gaming. They?re fast and cheap. The downside is that they still get pretty hot, but so do the latest Intel processors.
For the next couple of years is predicted that Intel will take the lead again after releasing the Intel Conroe Dual Core processors in a matter of 1 to 2 months. Conroe processors have turned out to be a lot faster (and I mean a lot!) than any AMD out there. People first thought that Intel used a special setup to prove the speed of these drives, but recent independent tests came up with the same results.?
Conroes also don?t get very hot and they?re going to be rather cheap, cheaper than AMD processors.
Since designing a new processor from scratch, which Intel pretty much did, takes 3-4 years, analysts are expecting that Intel will lead the market for the next few years, unless AMD comes up with a major new design which is doubted by these same leading analysts.
Also Apple has decided to make only use of Intel processors, which only confirms the bright future of Intel.
If you decide to go for Intel, you might not need a Conroe processor right now, but at least a motherboard that supports it.
Memory
2GB memory is a good choice.
Don?t settle for no-name brand Ram. If your motherboard supports dual channel ram, then I would advice you to use it. Understand that for dual channel ram you need two identical memory sticks preferable from the same brand. Some memory is sold as dual channel, but in principle you can use most sticks as long as they are completely identical.
Video card
Both Nvidea and ATI are a good choice. Ask yourself if you need the most expensive cards. Unless you play a lot of games, you quite often don?t need that power. Go at least for a PCIexpress card, which is the latest standard and a card that is compatible with Vista?s new graphic engine. Most cards out there will be compatible with Vista, however few will only be able to make maximum use of all features that Vista?s new graphic engine has to offer.
Don?t underestimate Vista. Microsoft has made major changes to the kernel and the rest of the operating system to make it a lot more secure.
Also the new IE7 will be more secure on the Vista platform than the old Win XP platform. So if security is your concern, then you probably want to switch to Vista next year or the year after.
Note that a fast 3D card won?t make applications like Photoshop or a Windows OS like XP any faster. Only 3D accelerated applications or operating systems will run faster. They also don?t make you render 3D images faster when you render to a file. The advantage for 3D software in 3D applications is that your view port (the area in which you work) will render faster.
Also understand that some 3D software works better or is more reliable with specific 3D cards (Vue d?Esprit is a good example), so you might want to look into that too.
Motherboard
Buy a modern motherboard that supports most of the latest features, but avoid going over the top.
Note that not all new motherboards support IDE drives, but only Serial ATA. Some board allow to use both IDE and SATA. Make sure your motherboard supports Dual Channel Ram and DDR2 ram. One of the most popular brands is Asus. Also look at the card you want to use.
Some motherboards allow you to use older standards beside the new standards that are already part of the motherboard, so make sure you look into that if you want to reuse some of your old hardware.
Hard drives
Western Digital and Seagate are now the market leaders. Don?t settle for less than a 7200 rpm drive with at least 8mb of cache. A larger cache not only makes your drive slightly faster, it also reduces noise and increases the life-span of a hard drive (less head movements). Don?t go for the super big hard drives when you only plan to use 10% for the next year or so. This will save you money, because those bigger hard drives only get cheaper.
If you consider the super fast 36GB Raptor Drives understand that these drives are 10,000rpm drives, which means that they make more noise and develop more heat, especially when you use two of them.
Best place to compare hard drives:
http://www.storagereview.com/
Which configuration to use depends a lot on personal preferences. The ideal combination would be the OS on Raptor, swap file on Raptor and one drive for data and one for backup.
Optical
Nothing to add, other then to choose not only the one with all the features you need, but also one that is reliable. You also don?t want to end up with 50 DVDs that cause problems on other drives or video or audio players.
Check sites like:
http://www.cdrinfo.com
http://www.cdfreaks.com
http://cdmediaworld.com
http://www.burnworld.com/
Also make sure that you use the proper media for your burner, because not all media works well with every burner. Pretty much every burner however allows you to improve this by updating its firmware.
Power supply
The power supply is the most underestimated part by many computer users. Cheap power supplies often create poor quality voltage, leading to an unstable operating system. An inefficient power supply can lead to higher electricity bills and more heat inside your computer, which can cause all kind of problems in the long and short term. An inefficient and cheap power supply often has a single fan which rotates its fan (or fans) at a higher speed to get rid of that excessive heat, which often leads to more noise.
Avoid choosing a power supply with a single 80mm fan. Power supplies with a single 120 mm fan can move the same amount of air as a 80mm, yet it doesn?t need to rotate as much, which often leads to less noise and longer life span. Power supplies with two 80mm fans create in general more noise than a single 120mm fan.
So hopefully now you understand that for example not every 400 watt power supply is the same just because they?re both labeled 400 watt.
Heat
Let?s look at an average configuration and some general aspects:
2 hard drives (more heat than one, 10k drives create even more)
Latest CPUs (create a lot of heat, often they need a more powerful CPU fan)
Fast video cards; faster often also means hotter.
Memory, motherboard, extra cards, burners, in general they all create more heat than 5 years ago.
Modern computers also need in general more powerful power supplies, which often also create a lot more heat on their own.
Don?t underestimate heat; it lowers the lifespan of your components much faster, especially if you live in hot climates and when you don?t a good air condition to cool down your room. More heat means that you need more or better fans and quite often they also have to run at a higher speed which results in higher noise levels.
To keep heat under control, let?s go through a few things
- water cooling (expensive and surely not for everyone)
- do you really need that super fast card on which you can cook an egg?
- Multiple hard drives mean more heat. Higher rpm also means in general more heat
- SATA cables or cable sleeves improve air flow and so do special cable compartments inside your case.
- Avoid to restrict airflow in any way
- A well designed case that is mostly aluminum or metal (transfers heat better than plastic) and allows you to place extra fans at the rear, front, sides and/or top really help to decrease heat
- An efficient power supply can also reduce heat as also the quality of its fan(s).
- Cooler CPUs like the new Conroes bring down heat
- CPU fans only move heat away from the CPU and drop it somewhere else inside you case. Only a descent case fan will remove that heat.
Noise
With all these modern components that often need to be cooled by multiple fans, you often run into a new problem; noise. To keep noise down, start by keeping heat down.
Then continue by choosing fans or drives that don?t create a lot of noise. A good sound isolated case can really help to reduce noise.
I mentioned both heat and noise because they will have to play a role in what components you plan to use.
Ok, that?s it for now. It was not my intention to tell you what to buy, but more to make you understand what you have to be aware of when buying or building a new computer.
I wanted to add some more info, but knowing me I tend to go on for too long in E-mails or posts on forums.?
... geesh, and I saw both Short Circuits!! .... [doh] .. my aging brain!! 
